Sorry...know nothing about the "Red Side".....do like the looks of the performance though in XFire, especially the cooler Temps and less noise then 480's....after Tri Sli 280's I don't think I'm nto battling heat with SLi 480's.......just for higher Benches....for gaming...a couple of 5870's could be the answer...

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Introducing me n my OCD to Watercooling, is like taking an Alcoholic to an "all you can drink" Beach Bar in Mexico

yeah, the ZNFC is actually a cost down non-reference board. i think PCB is a different color as well as the DVI connectors. stuff like software voltage control through Afterburner won't work on the ZNFC.

the non-ZNFC is reference and going to be a slightly better build quality, plus will work with voltage adjustments via Afterburner and the like. most GPU's come out with non-reference designs a while after reference cards to bring production costs down, cost-down models are common practice. HTH

I didn't get the 480 I ordered.
I'm considering getting a 5870 for my new machine if I don't receive it this week but can't decide what one, really like the look of the Asus V2 but its non reference and if non reference isn't as good .......

Most of my graphics cards have been XfX, and from my experience all the really cheap out on is the pcb.
You can tell by the pics that they used a different circuit board material and that they don't have a backplate heatspreader. However, since it's a 5870 and a really big card, I'd go with the reference model. I had a 8600gt's pcb warp after about 2 years of usage due to the cheap circuit board they used. (stock cooler was the only thing weighing it down and it was a short card)
All that said, I have XfX as my first choice, simply for warranty reasons. (yes, I do use my cards for longer than 3 years)